Genre: Drama, Southern Gothic
Key Stage: Upper KS4+
Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sweet Bird of Youth, Tennessee Williams (1959)
Williams’ play ‘Sweet Bird of Youth’ explores themes from desire, disease and beauty to time, aging and youth. This play centres on the protagonist, Chance Wayne, who returns to his home town for ‘his girl’ unaware of all the hardships and pain he has put her through. Along with him, a movie star, whom he hopes will help him get into acting and become famous, to win over Heavenly (his girl.) Williams wrote and published the play in a time of racial conflict and this is reflected in the play.
In my opinion, this play was engaging and enjoyable to read, especially in the moments where Chance can be described as ‘delusional’, acting as though no time has passed, behaving as if everything is normal however, in reality, it is the polar opposite! In this way, it is admirable that Chance refuses to leave his hometown, even when he finds out what he did to Heavenly. Finally, I liked how the play explores the feelings that come along with aging, and the fact that no matter how much you try to act ‘young,’ it is hard to accept the truth and so you resort to living in denial, such as the characters, Chance and Princess. Overall, I would really recommend this read!
Reviewer: Amina, Year 12